1 of 1- Goose
- Cogito ergo sum
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Austrian Far-Right Candidate Narrowly Loses Presidential Vote
Austrian Far-Right Candidate Norbert Hofer Narrowly Loses Presidential Vote
VIENNA — Alexander Van der Bellen, a 72-year-old economics professor and former Green Party leader, won Austria’s cliffhanger presidential election on Monday, defeating his far-right rival by the slimmest of margins and pledging to unite the divided country.
Austria had to wait almost 24 hours after polls closed on Sunday for the authorities to count almost 700,000 valid mail-in ballots. In the end, Mr. Van der Bellen won 50.3 percent of the vote, and his far-right rival, Norbert Hofer, 49.7 percent, a difference of just over 30,000 votes, the Interior Ministry said.
Mr. Hofer conceded defeat on his Facebook page, writing: “Of course I am sad today. I would so gladly have taken care of our wonderful country for you as president.” He added, “The effort for this campaign is not lost, but an investment in the future.”
The result averted the prospect of the first right-wing populist head of state in post-Nazi Europe taking office in a democratic election. Yet the close result illustrated how deeply divided Austria is between left and right, and how thoroughly the centrist elites who have run the country since 1945 have fallen from public grace.
The narrowness of the victory also reflected the big strides into the mainstream the far right has made not only in Austria, but in much of Europe — from neighboring Hungary and Poland, where it already holds sway, to France and Germany, where rightist movements are polling strongly before national elections next year.
In Britain, voters are scheduled to decide next month whether their country will stay in the European Union. That vote could turn on issues like migrants and a rejection of European unity and the Continent’s centrist elites — issues that also figured significantly in Austria’s vote.
In his first speech as president-elect, Mr. Van der Bellen emphasized his pro-European stance, welcoming foreign reporters in English, and promised Mr. Hofer’s voters that their grievances and views would be heard.
“We have quite clearly got a lot of work to do,” Mr. Van der Bellen said. “Obviously, people do not feel sufficiently seen or heard, or both,” even if the five-month campaign proved that Austrians were ready to discuss politics at length — something their new president said was “a good sign.”
Last edited by Goose (5/23/2016 2:34 pm)
We live in a time in which decent and otherwise sensible people are surrendering too easily to the hectoring of morons or extremists.